June 18, 2013
Article
by Mark A. Turnquest
New entrepreneurs must get into the game by conducting a comprehensive market search before they
develop practical business plans. Existing small and medium sized enterprise
(SMEs) owners must stay in the game by executing
their business plans in an effective and efficient manner.
It is quite evident by now that the country is broke,
with a 70% debt to GDP Ratio in sight. We are borrowing heavily now to borrow light
in the future. Bahamians must become
more entrepreneurial and do not wait for the government to set their
destiny. Only the serious attention to
develop the SME sector can save our nation from financial collapse.
Both government and the private sector
should realize by now that focusing on top archaic down economic
strategies to improve
Tourism, Financial Services and Construction Industries for almost
40 years has failed miserably and now the cupboard is empty and the cookie jar
is on the floor broken and empty.
The innovative bottom up economic clustering strategy to improve the
SME sector should be the only way to go in the future. This means
focusing on arts and craft, movie and television production, medical, health and wellness, sports tourism, e-commerce, Information and
Communication Technology (ICT), apiculture (bees agriculture), green energy
production, innovative manufacturing and agriculture (coconuts etc.) markets mainly
in the family islands. All roads to economic diversification and
growth should lead to the Family Islands. Bahamians must return to their
forefathers’ islands and start complimentary businesses because New Providence is
too crowded and economically maxed out.
However,
new entrepreneurs and existing SMEs owners should feel excited and be optimistic
because a market research is being
conducted to identify the problems and opportunities of the SME sector. After
the completion of the market research, a strategic
plan will be formulated to delineate national policies on how to grow the
SME sector and diversify the economy (from the bottom up).
In
addition, The SME Development Act, the
cornerstone that drives the development and sustainability of the sector, is
one step closer to becoming legislated in the next parliamentary session. The
SME Act will be administered by SME
Development Agency which will concentrate on training, networking,
research, identifying opportunities, administrative support and partnering with
local and international funding organizations.
Conducting
comprehensive market research, developing and executing business plans in an
effective and efficient, formulating clustering strategies, Family Island
development, the SME Act and SME Development Act will be the main topics
discussed at the Entrepreneur Empowerment Workshop that I will be hosting on
Saturday June 29, 2013. For more information contact me tel. # 3426-6748 /
427-3640 or email: markaturmquest@gmail.com,
No comments:
Post a Comment